Auto dim Surface Pro screen when docked

[bob@shuffstuff.com]

Obviously the system knows when I plugin the USB to dock because the external monitors come on, the wifi turns off, and the audio is redirected....this is great. But is there a way for the system to automatically (when docked) get the Surface Pro screen to auto Dim or better yet turn off just the Surface Pro screen while the 2 external displays remain on. I ask because it's a major waste of energy to have the Surface Pro screen on when I'm not even looking at it, the unit gets hotter because it's on, and I would really like to save as much screen life as I can.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

[Dan]

Windows will remember the settings for each set of monitors you have attached. When docked, you should be able to set the Surface screen to 'disabled' and one of the other screens as primary. When you undock it should just ping back to where it was.

Does that work for you, or would more detail be helpful?

[bob@shuffstuff.com]

Thank you. It's an acceptable solution. I say that because it does work (and can't believe I over looked it) my Surface screen turns off and the external screens came on (one of them is set as the master display).

The only issue, is that if I do need to use the touch screen....say to access a metro app or the metro start screen the only way to get the Surface screen back on is to change the display settings. Where if it just auto turned off the screen or dimmed it all the way then if I did need it again there would be fewer steps to increase the brightness.

There is one other method I did realize and that is via the power settings. If you setup a mode for "docking" then in that mode I set the screen brightness all the way down. Whenever I dock I enable this profile and it dims the screen but still allows the ability to manually bright again. The problem with this solution is that I haven't been able to find an Event in the Event viewer that occurs when I plug-in the USB to dock to attach a power setting change too.

Does anyone know of an Event that occurs when you plugin the USB to dock?

Thanks again for the advice...at this moment I'm going to use your suggested method.